Weekender

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Well that went by fast! Faster than usual actually. I blame daylight savings?? And Happy Pi Day! Backing it up from the weekend:

Friday: While Wes was down for his morning nap, I did a quick T25 Beta workout then whipped up a batch of Easter M&M cookies. (balance, right?)

Afterwards, we headed to the mall in hopes of exchanging some socks my parents sent to Wes for a larger size. They didn’t have any, so I’ll just have to hold on to them until we make it to a different location! We did a quick lap around the mall then headed home.

It was a pretty uneventful day, and we didn’t do much except hang around the house for the remainder of the afternoon.

Dinner was a quick meal of chicken burrito bowls (we forgot to put CHEESE on them. WHO DOES THAT!) then Susie came over for a girls night beer tasting. We each contributed 3 beers, but we only opened 3….and didn’t even finish them! I feel like such an old lady sometimes.

Saturday: Here’s some exciting news- I spent the morning doing laundry! Actually, I took a nice bath first then got some laundry done. And Wes helped us make the bed 🙂

After lunch we headed out to check out some flooring options to redo the main level of the house. We think we’ve narrowed it down to a particular one, but it might not get done RIGHT away. That’s ok, it was nice to get out of the house and Wes loved sitting in all the different shopping carts! And snacks. Snacks are always fun.

Oh, and I was dead set on getting a nutella donut from Tims while we were out. Mmm, so good! I haven’t had one of those since the day Wes was born- aka: the day I most deserved a donut.

We ordered pizza for dinner and watched The Other Guy and Concussion before going to bed.

Sunday: After my beloved BAE breakfast, I took Wes for a nice long morning walk. It was early enough that there was still a nip in the air, so he got nice and cozy before we headed out.

He managed to fall asleep while we were out and I successfully got him in the entryway of the house (in the stroller!) and he stayed asleep for about 45 minutes.

A little afternoon play time to be had:

Then we decided to try to go to a nearby provincial park for a long walk. Once we got there though it was way too windy, so we tried heading to another park. Same problem…WIND! Almost immediately after we strapped Wes back into the car he passed out and we ended up driving out to Airdrie to check out some show homes. There were some really nice ones, but then there were also a lot of overpriced homes that didn’t even have nice finishes. Womp.

Wes was a trooper for the FOUR HOURS we were out, and even stayed all smiles for the rest of the evening! He ate a humungous dinner, splashed the heck out of us during his bath, then easily went down at 7:40pm.

Unfortunately for me, since we were out so long during the day and Wes didn’t have a proper nap in his crib, I still had to take the doggies out for a long walk and do my workout afterwards. I hate to admit it but I think I’m becoming a morning worker-outer! Nothing better than just getting it done first thing.

Speaking of workouts, I just wanted to share a photo I posted on Instagram. I really have to attribute a lot of my post-baby body success to my two favorite programs: T25 and 21 day fix EXTREME . Both programs enabled me to get in great workouts in under 30 minutes and there is no better feeling than the feeling of accomplishment- especially when I can see these results AND I feel like a million bucks.

If you’re interested in learning more about these or any other programs, please feel free to email me! jennifer(dot)l(dot)linton(at)gmail(dot)com

Before heading to bed, I whipped up a batch of baked breakfast protein cookies. I’m really hoping they turned out..and if they do, I’ll make sure to share the recipe!

How was your weekend??

From the Week

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Woohoo for Friday! Forecast for this weekend: chores and sleep. Sleep sleep sleep. Some stuff that happened this week:

Monday: We started off the day nice and early with a stroll to the library. Gotta love nice weather that allows for us to get some fresh air! We picked a little corner and got some books and just hung out for a while. There were some other kiddos there too, but they sounded a bit destructive otherwise I would have had Wes try to mingle.

We left a while later with a ton of new books to enjoy at home. I even checked one out for myself!

Then I got a huge surprise in the mail. Tyler ordered me a professional light tent set! I am entirely too excited to use this (and it’s WAY better than the light box I constructed myself. I know a few of you were asking how I made it, but it was so crappy that you’re now spared the instructions. haha).

I already have it set up on a table in the basement and it’s just waiting for its first victim! 🙂

The weather was all too sunny, so I decided to take Wes for another stroll around the neighborhood. This time in the wagon! He just sat there pretty content and checking everything out.

We had leftovers for dinner and spent the remainder of the evening just hanging out. This guy is really starting to enjoy his bath time and gets super giggly throwing all of this toys out of his basket over and over again.

Tuesday: I checked the monitor before getting out of bed to get Wes and he was sitting up! Oh man, he’s just minutes away from crawling and I am just not ready for that yet!

We met up with Alison and her kiddos at the zoo. Just my luck Wes fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got there. And of course he woke up when I tried to transfer him into the Bob. There was no one at the zoo and we whizzed through almost the entire park in about an hour before heading home. Then, Wes fell asleep AGAIN five minutes before we got home. Same thing happened and he woke up when I took him out.

I attempted getting him down for a nap a couple of times before he FINALLY fell asleep around 2pm. He slept for 2 hours, but he was so out of whack that he woke up SUPER grumpy and stayed that way until bed time. Boo.

The only thing keeping him somewhat entertained was trying to pull himself up on the step. Or maybe he was doing a yoga pose? Who knows. Babies are weird.

The grump took a lot of my time and energy that dinner was easy peasy: chicken, cous cous, and spicy roasted potatoes.

Wednesday: After a yummy pancake breakfast, Wes and I walked to Safeway for a grocery run then browsed around a few other stores in the shopping center before heading home. The early morning air + an exciting WesOnWheels session tuckered him out for a good, long nap!

I seriously love taking advantage of this crazy good weather, so we headed over to a different shopping center after lunch and walked around for a bit. (Picking up a few necessities, of course. Dang it, even going for walks causes me to spend money!) Before heading home, I ran the car through the car wash and Wes was amazed.

Oh- and we had a delicious dinner! I made Crockpot Minestrone Soup (+ added chicken). I also made a cake. The cake is already gone. Never leave me home alone with a cake. Full disclosure: Tyler did help eat it.

It’s funny that the day after Wes has a ‘grump day’ he tends to be extremely happy. Case in point:

All smiles the whole day! His lack of afternoon naps lately have caused him to zone out pretty early which has been a pretty nice treat for me and Tyler.

Thursday: No morning outing for us. It was entirely too windy to go for a walk, so we played with EVERY toy in the house and hopped from room to room to keep it interesting. After lunch, I tried to take some photos of Wes with Layla (wearing some of his latest goodies from our Wee Nation box) but it was a HUGE no go. Mr Grump did not want to wear his hat. Or sit still. I was seriously considering a glass of wine at that point.

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Even his non smiley photos are adorable!

We got out of the house and went to the dollar store, Walmart (strictly to stockpile on Easter candy before it sells out), and Michaels. I just realized that I’ve been on the same tank of gas for 3 weeks now. Woohoo!

When we got home, Wes pulled out his personalized plank (A gift from his aunt, uncle and cousin for Christmas) and was mesmerized by it for almost 2 hours. Seriously, a piece of wood is that interesting.

We had naked dinner (Ok, just Wes. Tyler and I kept our clothes on) and bedtime came early once again.

Workouts from the week: Week 1 of Beta from Focus T25 and a 45 minute walk the the doggies each night.

Phew, I am exhausted! But I am so happy with the amount of out-of-the-house time Wes and I had this week. Here’s to hoping the weekend is just as nice!

PS: *Shoutout to all you readers that never comment* I’d love to hear from ya! That said, I dare you to comment below! You can tell me a joke or something random from your week or a new recipe you’ve come across that you think I should try!

Three Things on Thursday

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hi, friends! Happy Thursday. SO CLOSE to the weekend I can almost taste it. I’ve got three totally random things I’d like to share with you today:

Eco Chic Movement. Last month, Dr. Alexis from Eco Chic Movement reached out and asked if I’d like to try some baby products from her all-natural line. I of course said yes because I’m always on the lookout for safe products to use on Wes. We received the baby basics travel set which includes baby lotion, massage oil, diaper cream, baby face cream, baby skin conditions cream, and shampoo & body wash.

All of the products are 100% natural and made in Ottawa by Dr. Alexis who is a chemical engineer, toxicologist, and naturopathic doctor. The shampoo & body wash came in a foam pump and I had to pump it quite a bit to get enough to lather onto Wes’s head and body, but I could tell it was nice and gentle on his skin. His hair was light and fluffy after his bath too!

The baby lotion had a very thick consistency which also made it a bit harder to dispense, but it was nice and creamy on his skin. I don’t usually use a separate cream for his face, but we tested this out as well and again was very clean and gentle on his skin. I’ve yet to use the other products, but have them on hand when needed!

I also received a couple of trial sizes for creams and lotions for myself and my favorite is the peppermint foot cream. I used this after a night time shower and put socks on afterwards and my feet stayed nice and moisturized (which is quite the feet in this dry altitude!)

Pros: 100% all-natural products; made in Canada; safe for baby!

Cons: The containers my samples were sent in got opened in the mail and they were hard to pump when I wanted to use. Not sure if shipping is to blame for that?

Thanks again, Eco Chic!

2. Checkout 51– This is one of my latest favorite apps. Every Thursday, they load new list of offers (grocery items, office supplies, BOOZE, pet supplies..etc). You simply pick the ones you’d like, purchase them from any store, upload the receipt, and when your account hits $20, they send you a check. Basically, coupons without the physical coupons.

I’ve already redeemed quite a bit through them. And my favorite part is that you can redeem the offer even if you already have a coupon and/or the product is on sale at a given store. Pampers Baby Dry diapers were on there this week, so I looked for where they were on sale in my area, used a $3 off coupon I already had, then uploaded the receipt for an additional dollar off. Boom, I’m a penny saving genius.

PS: US friends, this is available to you too!

3. Homemade Protein Bars. I decided I needed to let go of my beloved Quest Bars (I’ve had one EVERY SINGLE DAY since Wes was born) because they are just too dang $$$. I looked up recipes on SIMPLE homemade protein bars and came across Lindsay’s No-Bake Protein Bars.

Here’s what I used to make them:

1.5 c oat flour
1.5 c Vega Proteins & Greens protein powder in Vanilla
1.5 c Rice Chex cereal
3 T chia seeds
3/4 all natural peanut butter
1/2 c unsweetened almond milk
1/3 c honey
3 T water

Instructions:

In a bowl combine flour, cereal, protein powder and chia seeds.
In another bowl combine peanut butter, milk and honey.
Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir to thoroughly combine.
Add water as necessary to make sure the ‘dough’ is moistened. (it will be crumbly)
Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper and press dough into pan.
Freeze for roughly 20 minutes.
Cut into bars.

If you click over to Lindsay’s original recipe, you’ll see mine turned out completely different than hers. Mine were super tasty, but I think I can improve on them a bit. Next time, I might try almond butter, rice krispies and omit the chia. I mean, if I HAVE to keep making them, I GUESS I’ll just have to suffer through eating all of them, right? 😉

Do you prefer locally made/natural items for your/your baby’s skin care? What do you use?

Do you have a great homemade protein bar recipe I could try??

Weekender

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Yay, it’s Monday! (not.) Ugh, so not. I crave weekends so hard…and I don’t even know why! Maybe for the slightly extra time with Tyler? Or…yeah, probably that. Here’s to hoping for another good week in the books. Backtracking a few days:

Friday: Spinach pancakes. So yummy. Wes was up before I made them, so I ended up sharing some with him and he LOVED them. I think he mostly loved the maple syrup- which is pretty much my favorite part too.

It was really great weather out, so I opted to take Wes for a nice long morning walk. The fresh air felt pretty great and he enjoyed all the sights. Even if he doesn’t look overly pleased.

On a side note: If you have a front load washer, I recently found the best way for cleaning the dang thing! Mix 1/4c baking soda + 1/4 c water and pour where the liquid detergent container is. Throw 2c vinegar in the drum, then run a HOT normal cycle. Man oh man, the washer is clean as a whistle and the clothes come out actually smelling like the detergent now! No more mildewy smelling nastiness!

I gave up coffee *moms around the world gasp* because I was becoming way too dependent on it…BUT, I did splurge and have a New Grounds Food Coconut Mocha coffee bar as a pick me up while Wes had his lunch. (more on these bars later!)

We lounged around the house for a bit and Wes decided to practice a little magic with his rabbit and hat.

Around 1pm we FINALLY made it out of the house to run some errands. I returned some stuff and bought some small goodies for Wes’s Easter basket. But mostly, we just had fun walking around all the stores. Wes seems to really love being in the shopping cart, which makes for a much more pleasant shopping experience 🙂

Last week, Tyler had ordered a carpet shampooer and he messaged me saying he got the confirmation email that it was delivered to our house. I looked on the front porch (we have two doorbells on the front since previous owners used our downstairs space as a separate living suite and often delivery people press the wrong doorbell) and there was nothing. It’s a pretty big expense, so I took Wes around the block checking out our neighbor’s porches and still nothing. Lovely! A few hours later, a woman messaged Tyler on Facebook asking if we were expecting a package and it turns out it was delivered to her- in an entirely different neighborhood. Once Wes went to bed, I went to pick it up. Thank goodness for nice people!

I also picked up another package that arrived for us…from wee nation!

They totally killed it this month with more of a clothing theme. The beanie from Charlee Dee is super soft (even though it’s not really slouchy on Wes’s head haha), the bandana bib from MawdsleyLoves is super cute and I’m absolutely loving the tee from Vagabond babe– I’m hoping Wes will get to wear it more than once. I’ve used the Sauce for Skin balm on this one tiny little dry patch Wes has on his back, and it seems to be doing the trick! I love that it isn’t sticky either.

Tyler had brought home a new to us beer (good husband). I was excited to try it- but it was entirely too sweet to have with dinner. I think it would be perfect for an outdoor winter fire pit, but not mixed with leftover shepherds pie haha.

On a bit of a downer note, the button on the side of my Fitbit Charge HR broke off. I started hyperventilating since I seem to be really good at breaking technology lately. Luckily, I was covered under the warranty and they’re sending me a replacement. PHEW!

We watched Amazing Race and In the Heart of the Sea then called it a night. (Chris Hemsworth <—heartthrob).

Saturday: The day started just after 7am and Wes was a whiny mister. All day. Woof. It really is a good thing babies are cute to make up for the worlds most annoying sound!

We did our usual Saturday Costco trip. With all the wonderful crap that Costco has to offer, how come they don’t sell any bulk baby/toddler snacks? I don’t get it. Maybe it’s just the one we go to? That stuff would fly off the shelves if they carry it.

We tackled the rest of the afternoon with attempting to keep Wes happy. Thanks to the suggestion by Brie, I even put Wes in the back carry position in the Ergo. He really liked it…until he started pulling all of my hair out, so I had to call it quits. And snacks. Always snacks.

I lucked out and caught a happy baby moment!

Can we just stop for a moment and talk about how my 10 month old fits (barely) into size 2T pajamas? Granted, they’re Carter and everything from there runs small. But still!

PS: Tyler always does home projects/PAITING in his pj pants and pretty much every pair has crap all over them. Oof.

Wes helped Tyler make fajitas for dinner..

And then I was granted the pleasure of sitting down AT THE TABLE to eat my dinner in peace.

It was a really early night for me..I was in bed by 8:30pm and got just over 10 hours of sleep!

Sunday: Mornings are SO much better when you’re well rested. Can I get an amen?!

I sorta failed in the photo taking department. Boo. And without photos, I tend to forget what the heck happened. Let’s see…

There was breakfast. And laundry. And a workout. And a walk with the dogs. And we shampooed the carpet! Ahhh life is so exciting.

The dogs sure can do a number on carpet.

Wes took two naps- a 45 min one in the morning and a 2 hour one in the afternoon. He always has great afternoon naps after taking a bath!

We had skip-its for dinner (that’s what we call it when it’s every man for himself). I took some of the leftover fajita mixture and made it into a quesadilla. So delicious.

Just before Wes went down for the night, I threw together a batch of no bake protein bars. I’ll share those later this week…assuming they turn out to be tasty 🙂

And that’s it! I hope you all had a great weekend!

From the Week

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

TGIF for reals. I love Fridays so much. Just a few random things to share from the week..

Eats: We had some pretty decent dinners this week. Turkey meatballs, bbq pulled chicken sandwiches, roasted pork loin, and shepherds pie. Not too shabby. Plus, it allowed me to use a lot of the stuff we already had on hand. The more I can stretch a dollar..

I threw some spinach in my protein pancakes on Wednesday and it didn’t disappoint. I can’t wait to have them again!

I also made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and have been secretly waiting for ‘dessert time’ every day because…chocolate chip cookies.

Another one of my Sticky9 orders came in the mail and I was really excited to go through them. The quality isn’t 100% super on the photos themselves, but the little square cards are so cute and they make for great decorations. Wes loves seeing them up around the house and giggles when he notices any photo that he’s in.

I picked up a forward facing carrier off kijiji for $5 and Wes JUST fits in it, but we wanted to see if having him in a carrier that faces out might help free our hands and allow him to look around. Because it’s a bit too snug, I’ll only be using it around the house. He seemed to really love it! But pulling him out of it is a task in itself 🙂

We also walked over to the library to pick up some new books. I had to take a picture of the one Wes loves best in case I ever need to buy it or something. I’ll miss his giggles each time I get to the last page.

Since the weather has been so nice, just about all of our errands this week have been on foot! I love getting Wes out in the fresh air.

Other than that, we’ve been just hanging around and being silly together. His naps have been all over the place, but I’ve managed to squeeze in my workouts each day + take the dogs on nice walks once Tyler gets home (loving that the walks are during the tail end of daylight, too!).